After visiting the Crafting Outlaws Craft Show last Saturday, John, Jackie, Tom and I walked down High Street to check out some of the stores and find a place to eat supper.  Even though it was cold, there were lots of people out and we had a good time window shopping.  We ended up eating at The Eagle to eat, but before I talk about that . . .

We noticed, as we were walking, that there were lots of people dressed strangely on the street.  Most of them had on some version of a Christmas sweater, but there were also Christmas pajamas, dresses, coats, lots of funny hats, and even a few suits and ties.  Turns out that Saturday was the Columbus Ugly Sweater Bar Crawl to benefit Toys for Tots.  Participants dressed up in their ugliest holiday outfits, paid for a ticket, and then got discounts on drinks at bars up and down High Street.  It was fun to see the crazy outfits.  There were also a couple of caroling groups entertaining people on the sidewalks.

We walked down High Street to a store called Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop.  Rocket Fizz had every kind of candy you could ask for – lots of the old fashioned ones you don’t find in the grocery store – and plenty of specialty soda pop like Cheerwine.  We didn’t buy any, but it was fun to look around.

We headed back up High Street to our supper destination:  The Eagle – a Food and Beer Hall.  We arrived around 4:45 and the place was pretty full with Ugly Sweater participants.  We got a table right away and perused the menus.  The specialty at The Eagle is fried chicken, so Jackie and I both ordered that.  Tom and John ordered the pork sandwich and each of us got one side.  We had skillet cornbread with maple butter, coleslaw, french fries, and macaroni and cheese.

The food at The Eagle was all delicious.  The fried chicken was moist and the skin had just enough crunch without being greasy.  My favorite thing was the cornbread with the maple butter.  Corn kernels were mixed into the cornbread and the maple butter added just the right touch of sweet and creamy.

As we walked back toward the car, we made two more stops.  The first was to Le Chocoholique which was an interesting mix of Starbucks, chocolate store, and bar.  The candy looked like little jewels.  After some discussion with the person working behind the counter, I got some hot chocolate with a shot of peanut butter.  It was made with whole milk and it was sooo good.  It also helped warm up my hands!  John, Jackie, and Tom all got some candy which they said was very good.

Our last stop before we got to the car was to John’s office.  He works in the Arena District just a block from the Convention Center.  The company is called Dynamit and they create web and mobile applications for businesses.  John is the Lead Developer.  We got to see his desk and some of the other spaces where everyone works.  My favorite place was the secret conference room behind the library.

We got some good exercise walking up and down High Street and got to see some cool shops and weird sweaters.  For an afternoon, it was fun to pretend that we were as young and hip as all the other people we saw.  We always appreciate John and Jackie finding these places to show us and taking the time to go with us.  From Crafting Outlaws to the Eagle to Dynamit – our knowledge of how a younger generation spends their time was expanded.